Lessons From the Sukkah

One of the many things that we enjoy about our ministry is being able to experience the "appointed times of G-d" through the eyes of those who have never experienced them before - over and over again.
This weekend, we decided to begin our celebration of Sukkot (Feast of Booths/Tabernacles) with a weekend campout, along with several members of our congregation, most of whom had never experienced what it is like to "dwell in booths" (Lev 23:42).
There are a lot of lessons we can learn from Sukkot. It seems that there is always something new to discover (I suppose that one of the reasons G-d told us to do this every year) - but there are also many wonderful lessons that are reinforced in a very tangible way.
This year, the one that seemed to impress itself upon me the most, was the fact that we should not hold too tightly to material things. G-d is our Shelter and Provider, but it is far too easy to forget that fact when we are surrounded by the comfort and convieniences our homes offer.
But there, dwelling in the "wilderness" of the farm owned by our friends, living in those temporary shelters, without running water, stoves and refrigerators, without a furnace to chase away the morning chill, it was a lot easier to remember how frail and temporary this life truly is and how silly it is to spend so much of our short lives seeking to attain things that have no lasting value.
We need to be seeking the Kingdom, not earthly comforts. We need to be relying on the care and sustaining power of G-d, not on the possessions that all too often possess us. The frailty of the sukkah reminded me of the frailty and vulnerability of my life. But the knowledge that just as G-d was with His people, caring and providing for them as they wandered through the wilderness, living in their temporary shelters - so He is with us as we journey toward our Promised Land. Our hope is not in what this world has to offer, no matter how comfortable and convenient it may seem, but in what G-d has already provided for us in Eternity.

Click HERE to read more Lessons from the Sukkah and see other pictures from this years celebration.